The kid who got into some trouble
by don't tell me what I can't be
Summary: Emma is an teenager trying to get through life. But life somehow does not seem to want her to be happy. She gets frustrated at this and decides to take matters into her own hands. So she runs from her foster home and decides to start a jurney on trying to find her real parents. However, she soon figures out she has no idea of what she's doing. But she's already in so much trouble.
1. Chapter 1

**I want to become an author someday so please give me honest feedback if you read the story. If you see any spelling or gramar misstakes then please let me know beause I want to present the best work I can. So, enjoy. :)**

Everybody else was in school, I wasn't. I was sitting outside at one of my town's biggest cafés. There was something that had been bugging me for a very long time. I had to figure out what to do. I had been so lost lately that I just needed a place for myself to think and get to rinse my thoughts. I sat at one of the tables furthest away from the entrance and all the other tables. Even thought I had come here to think there was something in my way, making it very hard for me to concentrate. I had come here being lost but very sure to find myself. Now I wasn't so sure anymore. _Maybe I didn't want what I thought I wanted. Maybe this was a mistake._ I reached for my jacket and was just about to get up from my chair when a memory flashed before my eyes. _He was lying on the ground while looking at me. His dark hair was messy and one of his hands was inside his jacket and the other one on the ground. He continued talking and said "Promise me that you will never give up on finding…"_ I forced the memory to go away before it ended. I already knew what had happened. It had been playing on repeat in my head for weeks. I looked down at my coffee, which I actually didn't like but had bought for some reason, and saw my reflection. My hair which was blonde looked brown and my eyes, which were normally green, now looked light brown. I saw in my reflection as a tear was falling from my eye. I quickly hid my face beneath my hair. Another flash of Martin smiling and shaking his head played in my mind. I closed my eyes and whispered "I promise" as another tear rolled down my cheek. My shoulders relaxed as I felt some of the tension, I had felt the last few days, disappeared. A small smile spread across my face and suddenly I did not feel as lost anymore. Now I had a goal, something to fight for.

I looked up from the coffee and started to look around. I decided to lay low and absorbed the situation from a viewer's perspective, kind of like I was watching a film. Just that there was no script and the camera was my eyes. So as I sat there looking at the people, waiting for my opportunity, I saw many things. For example, a woman sitting very properly with a straight back and her legs beautifully crossed. Her hair was put up in a gorgeous and very classy style. Her green dress was very pretty and she kept on constantly looking at her watch. She was probably waiting for someone, a date or maybe her boss. She was obviously the most well- dressed person at the café. My eyes moved from one table to another to absorb what was happening **.** A man spilt coffee on his shirt so he stood up and talked to one of the four waitresses. They seemed to connect very well so she stayed there and continued talking to him. A kid dropped his cookie on the ground and he started crying. There were a few about 20-25 year old guys sitting around a table talking and laughing very loud. A couple was sitting around a table of their own and they were clearly in love. An old man was sitting by a table and reading a book. He was so concentrated on reading that he never looked up even when he got his coffee. The waitress had to pat him softly on his shoulder so he would notice. At the table next to me a teenage boy was sitting. He was listening to so loud music so if I listened really closely I could hear which song he listened to. As he listened to his music he was playing a game on his phone. He was in his own little world, oblivious to anything that was going on around him. This was exactly what I needed, perfect. Now I only needed something to serve as a distraction, something to catch people's attention as I did what I had to do. I looked around me again and kept my eyes open for my opportunity. Then another waitress walked out of the café with her arm filled with dishes. She was walking in high heels but her balance was a work in progress, to say the least. She walked past the table with the cute couple and picked up their empty coffee cup. Just as she walked away from the table she almost fell and bumped into one of the chairs. But she managed to keep her balance. She then kept on walking while picking up more and more dishes. This was it, there was my chance. All I needed was her stopping by a costumer so I could create a scene.

I followed the waitress with my eyes and saw as she picked up more and more dishes. She then stopped by the woman with the green dress and gorgeous hair, a perfect choice. I discreetly looked around me to see if any of the costumers were looking at me. Everybody still seemed to be stuck in their own little bubble and none of them seemed to pay attention to me or anyone else. I got up soft and quiet from my chair. Then I walked towards the waitress and coughed loud in her ear while giving her legs a light push. Then I hurried down under the table before anyone would notice what I had done or pay any attention to me. I had barely sat down before I heard dishes falling to the ground and heard a woman scream. Two gorgeous legs uncrossed followed by the high heels crashing down on the ground. People around the table suddenly seemed to wake up from their haze. They turned their head to the yelling woman, some even stood up out of shook from the sudden outburst.

I crawled out from underneath the table and proceeded to walk away from the table in a normal slow pace. To not look suspicious I had to remind myself to keep walking slowly and not to run. After what seemed like ages I finally got to the cash register. There I looked in the corner of my eyes one last time. No one even looked in my direction. My focus changed back to the cash register. I reached for it and opened it. As soon as I'd gotten the register open I began stuffing the money in my pockets. Then I quietly closed it again and walked out of the café.

When I thought I had gained a good enough distance between myself and the café I began running. Had I really just robbed a café? And how much had I been able to get? I did not feel safe enough to check yet. I had to get further away first. So I kept on running. As I ran my heart was racing, I felt an adrenaline rush and my guilt was about to take over. What if that café was struggling or if the owner had kids to take care of. My guilt was coming quite strong, but I had come too far to turn back now. I kept on running and a strange feeling suddenly rose to the surface. Hope.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author note: I want to be a writer and would be really happy if you were to review this story and give some tips on how to get better. (The tips I got on the first chapter was helpful, I will try to think about it in the future). And if you are mad at me for not responding to your reviews, please don't be. I'm just not good with technology so I haven't figured out how to do that yet.. And now I am not an 60 + year old person who doesn't know how to use a computer..I'm just a 17 year old who can't seem to learn how to get around on this page yet. But don't worry, I'll get there. And now I should stop talking. Sorry... :/ :)**

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I ran for quite a while without really knowing where I was headed. Once I stopped running I was suddenly awaken to my surroundings. I was standing in the middle of an, what looked like, abandoned park. The park looked empty from humans. That didn't surprise me since the park really wasn't that pretty or looked after. The trees looked like they had been living without care for quite some time. I walked on the road which was merely a path by now. I felt the money in my pockets and heard it move around in my pockets as I walked. Until I'd found a place where I felt safe enough to see how much it was, I choose to ignore it. After a while I found a bench which had a bush growing beside it. The bush had not been taken cared of for a very long time, so it had grown underneath and around almost the entire bench. Since autumn had begun, leaves covered the few places of ground which was visible through the bush beneath the bench. I carefully crawled underneath the bench and the bush served as camouflage. In there I felt safe so I brought out the money and saw that it was more than I was expecting. I had stolen a bit more than a thousand dollars. I was stunned at the large amount. My uprising had been mostly in families with minor revenue so I had never seen so much money in my whole life, and definitely not in cash. This had to be enough money to find them.

I quickly put the money back into my pockets to keep it safe. Then I carefully crawled out of the bush. I got up and brushed off my jeans of all the dirt. Then I thought of what my next step would be. Where should I look first? I was suddenly faced with the reality of my situation. I had no idea where they lived or what they looked like. I didn't even know their names. How was I going to find them? Would it even be possible? After just a few seconds I forced myself to think like that. I was not going to give up without even trying. I was determined to give it my best shot and not give up until I had found what I'm looking for or could not think of another place to look. So where would be a good place to start looking? They did leave me, which means that they might be people who party a lot. They may have gotten themselves into some trouble and that would have been why they left me. So they probably didn't want to be found. And since they left me on the side of the freeway they probably partied a lot. So Vegas was probably a more likely place than New York. But how would I get there?

I started walking away from the bench. While walking I was thinking of what to do next. I soon realized that I had no clue on how to get to Las Vegas. But now I had quite a bit of money and if there is one thing that I had learned in life it was that money was almost always the first step in getting what you want. It would at least make it a lot easier than if I wouldn't have had any. My feet began to get sore and my stomach was growling. I looked at my phone and saw that I had been walking for about an hour. I must have ran for a long time before I stopped to check how much money I had stolen. I had no idea of where I was and the sun had already begun to set. I was getting very hungry and the hungrier I got the harder it was for me to focus on anything else. I saw a fast food restaurant and without giving it a second thought I had walked in and ordered a hamburger.

"Here you go, that'll be 7 dollars and 60 cents" the waitress said and woke me from my state of daydreaming.  
"Alright" I breathed in and nodded while reaching for the money in my pockets. My hand was just above my jeans pocket when the restaurant door swung open. I pulled back my hand and turned around to see a policeman standing in the doorway. I froze. _Shit, what should I do now?_ As soon as I saw the policeman I looked down. I felt like I was being watched as he walked into the restaurant. _What if he would recognize me? What then? Would I go to jail?_ I was once again woken from my thoughts by the waitress. This time she was thrumming her fingers against the counter as a sign of her patience running low. I knew she was waiting for me to pay, but I was too scared of taking out the money from my pocket. I had too much cash on me for it to be normal. _Why did I go into the restaurant with all this money still on me? I should just have hid the money at a friend's house. I could have just gone to Jessica. She would have helped me._ I wanted to just turn around and run all the way to Jessica's place, to run away from this whole situation. With a police right beside me I however doubted it to be seen as anything other than suspicious. I needed a new plan. I mean I could just pay her, but since my pockets were so full with cash, it was more likely that the money would fall out and then I would be even more screwed. So instead of taking out the money from my pocket I looked up at the waitress to look for other options as to what to do. To my surprise I noticed that she did not look even in my direction. She looked at the policeman behind me with a big smile on her face. I saw as the policeman, who looked rather exhausted, walked towards the counter. I looked down at the floor and pretended I wasn't there. I wasn't sure if he looked at me or the waitress as he walked by me.  
"Rough night?" the waitress asked with a playful smile but with concern in her eyes.  
"You could say that" the policeman chuckled and sat down on a chair by the counter.  
"So what have you been doing all day to make you so exhausted? Your gun that popular with the chicks or what?" she asked with a raised eyebrow obliviously flirting with him.  
"Oh my gun is definitely popular with the ladies, but no, that was not what got me so tired." He signed "I've just been chasing this teenage robber for hours now."  
"Oh, really?" the waitress asked while pouring a cup of coffee.  
They obviously knew each other from before. If there ever was a moment where I could get away from this mess, this was it. I turned around and slowly took a step away.

All of a sudden I was being pulled away from the disk. I was so shocked I did not even react as I was being dragged back towards the counter. _What is happening? Where are you taking me? Stop! I don't want to go to jail._ I remained quiet as my eyes caught the policeman still very much sitting on his chair. This made me even more confused. _If he was sitting on his chair drinking coffee, then who was the man behind me? And where was I being pulled towards?_ The front door was in front of me and I was being pulled backwards. I heard a door open and once again wondered to where I was being taken. In one swift motion I was turned around and pushed through the open door to the men's bathroom. It was very dark and hard to take in any details as I was forced to proceed in quick movements. Two steps in and I was already by the wall across from the doorway. I looked at the wall and saw a window. A firm hand on my back indicated for me to turn around again. Without even thinking I was swung around. The cold wind that blew past my arm inferred that the window was now opened. I turned around and saw that my previous thought had been correct. The window was open, and it looked very dark outside. I looked down and saw nothing but darkness. Maybe we were higher up in the air than I first thought, it certainly looked like it. Then I felt a hand on my back pushing me towards the window. _Whoever the man was he sure was fast. I hadn't even noticed when he had moved from the window to stand behind me._ He pushed me so close to the window that my legs touched the wall beneath it.  
"Wait, what's going on?" I wanted to scream, but it came out as a mere whisper.  
"It's okay. You'll be fine." The person said from behind me with a calm voice. It sounded like they were trying to reassure me.  
"What do you mean I'll be fine?" I asked with a stronger but less steady voice as I grabbed a hold of the windowsill to gain more control of myself.  
"Just that" Suddenly my hand jerked away from the windowsill and my feet lifted off the floor. Before I could even think of what had just happened I felt myself falling from the other side of the window. _That person had actually just thrown me out a window. Who would do such a thing?_ Then it occurred to me that I was falling from a window. _How high up in the air was this exactly? It felt like I had been falling for forever. Was I not going to make it? Was this it? Would I die?  
_ "I don't want-"I began to scream. Then I landed on the ground. I looked up and saw that the window wasn't high up in the air at all. In fact if I were to stand up it would probably be further down than my shoulders. I was about to get up, but quickly ducked down again as I saw the one who had thrown me, jump out of the same window.

The man had landed almost right beside me. He was looking down at the ground and I took the moment to gather entail on his appearance. He had short dark hair, he was a man in his early years didn't look a day older than 20. His head was lifted from the ground; grey mysterious eyes met mine as he pulled himself up from the ground. Hands moved past jeans as he tried to get the dirt off his clothes. Then he stopped and his gaze was once again fixed upon me. Less dirty pants moved towards me and bent to the ground again. _Why did he dust off his pants if he was just going to get them dirty again?_ He placed a hand under my chin and began saying something while moving my face from left to right.  
"What?" I asked confused about what he had just said and what he was doing. Not to mention what was going on.  
"Are you okay?" he asked with wider eyes than before and furrowed eyebrows. His face almost looked concerned. I was so surprised by the reaction of this stranger. Why would he throw me out a window and then be concerned about me?  
"Um…yeah" I said with a weaker voice. I cleared my throat and then continued in a stronger voice "Yeah. I'm fine."  
"Good." His eyes remained staring at my face as if he was trying to spot a lie. After a while he visually relaxed his eyes and jaw. The man rose from the ground once more and turned around from me. Now his back was facing me. _What was it with this person? Could they not decide what to do? And would somebody please tell me what was going on? Not that there was anyone else here but me and him, but still. I was lying down on the ground beside a small personal parking space, probably belonged to the restaurant, in the shadows on an autumn evening. Well, maybe night by this time. I felt the urge to pick up my phone from my back pocket to check the time, but was not brave enough to do this since I didn't know what kind of person I was dealing with here. And my instincts told me that I should probably run, yet I could not run, I was stuck._ _Almost as if my feet had sunk down in the ground and melted together with it._ _I could not move no matter how much I wanted too.  
_ The man turned around again to face me. His facial expression looked different, I could not quite put my finger on what it was, it just looked colder somehow.  
"Then you can tell me why." I shrugged back as I was met by an icy stare and an emotionless voice.  
"Tell you what?" I asked with a harsh voice but while looking down at the ground.  
"Tell me why you robbed the café" his voice was cold this time too, but it also had a raging vibration to it.

 _How did he know it was me? Was he a cop after all? Had he been there but I had just not noticed him?_ I looked at him in shock and horror.  
"What are you talking about? I wouldn't rob any café" I said to try to get myself out of this unusual and uncomfortable situation.  
"Don't lie to me" he almost yelled. My heart started racing and my breathing quickened. He seemed to sense the frightening effect that had had on me and took a deep breath. He then continued in a much calmer voice. "I know you did it, all I'm asking is, why?"  
I calmed down, then looked at him and saw that he was serious. He seemed to be sure that I had done what he thought I had done. _Had he seen it? Had he been there? What should I do?_ I just stood there; I was quiet and had no idea of what to say. _He was a stranger; I couldn't just tell him why I had stolen the money from the café._ But something inside me made me want to tell him. It wasn't a guilty conscience since I had already gone through that stage. No, this was something different. Maybe it was the pressure I was under or that he threatened me? But something inside me made me doubt that too. He was a stranger and I didn't trust him, but something inside me told me that maybe I should. No, I can't trust him. He was a stranger, he was quite a bit older than me and he had just thrown me out a window. If I were to tell him there was a big chance that he would send me back there. He would send me to fake parents or even worse the police. I could not tell him the truth so instead I said, "Why do you think I did it?"  
He lifted an eyebrow at this. _You weren't there, I thought.  
_ "I would have remembered a guy like you." I whispered. My eyes widened as I realized what I had just said. _Oh no, what had I just done? I had basically just said that I had been there at the crime scene. And if I had been there I could most certainly had been the criminal._ _Damn, my bird brain and babbling mouth which never seemed to work properly._ _Hopefully he had not caught my slip of tongue._ _But if my words had not given it away, my expression right after surly had._ I looked at his face and saw a small smirk forming on his lips. He had definitely heard me alright.  
"How I recognized you is not of a concern to you" he said with a lifted eyebrow. "What you should be worried about however, is whether or not I'll call the police."

I had a chance that he wouldn't go to the police. _What did he want from me?  
_ "What kind of reason would be good enough to avoid the police? I asked him with a stern voice and arms crossed.  
He smiled and started nodding at me. He looked at me as if he thought I was clever or as if he liked the way this conversation was beginning to unfold. I couldn't quite tell which it was, maybe both.  
"It would have to be something important. So not for your own need to buy the new phone or some nice piece of jewelry" He said while giving me another icy stare. _Oh come on, you think I would rob a café just to get a new phone? I wasn't that shallow, or dumb. I know some people would do that, but I wouldn't make another's life worse just so that I could get a new phone._ "Like maybe to help a parent who is incapable of paying the bills or to pay out an innocent sibling out of jail…in other words no gang trouble." He said with a serious face.  
"Well than this is important." I truthfully stated.  
"Oh really?" he moved his head to the side "what's so important?"  
I didn't know what to answer and kept quiet. Suddenly I heard a police car with its siren on. Then the reality of my situation hit me. If this man would do what he said he would then the police wouldn't have to go very far. I wouldn't have much chance of escaping at all, especially without a car. And since I didn't know the area good enough I wouldn't be able to get away by being fast at running where the police cars couldn't go. I heard the police car behind me and automatically turned around to see if I could discover it. It wasn't close enough for me to see it, but I heard it approaching.  
"Okay, so here's the deal. If you don't tell me why you did it, I'll call the police and then it'll get real messy." He took out a phone from his pocket. "We don't want that now, do we?" his thumb settled right above the screen as if he was prepared to just press the call button.  
I felt my heart quicken at the tense moment and did not see any other way out than telling him the truth.  
"Okay…" I took a deep breath. "I did it to find my parents"  
"You did?" he asked surprised.  
I nodded.  
"Follow me." He said and turned around beginning to walk away from me.  
"Wait. What?" I said confused. "Why? What for?"  
He did not answer me, he simply kept on walking. I looked at him baffled. _What now? He wanted me to follow him. This probably meant that the best thing to do was probably running as far, as fast I could in the opposite direction._ But my curiosity got the better of me as I found myself getting up from the ground to follow a stranger into the darkness of the night.


End file.
